Recent news that researchers are experimenting with “morning after” HIV treatment has provoked interesting comment. Several news organizations have leapt to the assumption that this development encourages promiscuity, specifically amongst gay men, who believe that a momentary indiscretion or lapse in judgement could be rectified by an immediate anti-viral regimen.

But so far, I’ve heard nothing of the kind from gay men themselves. In fact, as our Senior Editor Walter Armstrong commented to me recently, HIV negative gay men have been and continued to be terrified of coming in contact with the virus.

To maintain such a high level of fear, over a long period of time, is extraordinary. And probably not very healthy. That’s right... I said not very healthy. We pay a price for irrational fear, just as we pay a price for foolhardy indifference or denial.

Even between gay men who are both HIV negative, we live in a safe-sex culture where it is shocking to admit publicly that you and your partner don’t use condoms. Who is addressing their unwarranted terror of HIV?

For those who are positive, but have achieved undetectable viral levels, the risk of transmission is still there. But the reality is that the risk is in fact lessened, because there is so much less virus in bodily fluids.

There are other problems, to be sure. Significant ones. Like the risk of an HIV positive person acquiring new strains of the virus, potentially ones with greater resistance. Or the risk of contracting other sexually transmitted diseases, including those that might greatly increase HIV replication.

But what protease therapy, “morning after” therapeutic experimentation and related news really should herald is the beginning of a long-overdue acceptance of harm reduction and negotiated safety as a form of prevention we can live with the rest of our lives. Gay or straight. Positive or negative.

Celebrate sex. And use your brain.